The Journey to Forever
by Phoenix0725
Summary: A collection of drabbles, written for various memes on Tumblr. It's marked as complete, but will be updated every once in a while. Pairings will differ.
1. Brand New Step-Sibling

_**And even more drabbles... As always, everything was beta'ed by lunarshores.**_

_**AceLu**_

* * *

When my mother first met Dragon, I thought that their relationship wouldn't last long. I thought that he'd break up with her when he found out that she has a 10-year-old son, like all of the others before him. Yeah, well, needless to say it didn't turn out that way. In fact, he _also_ admitted to having a child. I think that his son's name was Luffy. I didn't meet the kid until after they got engaged, though.

Luffy was always happy. And for some reason, it really pissed me off. The stupid kid kept getting himself into all sorts of trouble trying to make me his friend. His _brother_. I didn't want a brother. Dragon, I could tolerate. He made Mom happy. But this brat? Because of him, Mom had less time for me. When I told him to piss off (I had quite a mouth on me, even as a 10-year-old), he _never_ listened to me. He would either pretend that he didn't hear me, or he would start talking about something weird.

And then, mom and Dragon got married. He and his son moved into our house, and Mom had _even_ less time for me. I often found myself taking a walk alone in a nearby park and watching other kids play with their parents.

_Why couldn't I have a normal, functional family?_

When I came back home that day, I didn't talk to anyone. I took off my shoes and jacket and went straight to my room. If Mom noticed my bad mood, she didn't say anything.

Except for school, I didn't really leave my room for the next few days. I knew Mom was worried, but I didn't care. She tried to get me to come out a few times, but I locked the door and put a pillow over my head as I lied in my bed.

One day, though, when I came back from school, I found Luffy sitting on my bed. I threw my backpack into the corner of the room and ignored him. It went on like this for about half an hour, me just sitting at my desk, and him watching me.

"What?" I finally ground out, glaring at him.

"Why do you stay here every day?" Luffy asked. I frowned in annoyance.

"What's it to you?" I countered. Luffy turned his head to look at his feet.

"Because you seem lonely, and I'm lonely. I don't have any friends here. All I have is Mom and Dad, but it's not the same. You used to be there, but now you're not, and I'm all alone. I don't want to be alone." My frown slowly disappeared as he talked.

"Why would you want _me_ to be there?" I asked hesitantly. I had to admit, I was curious. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. I had no friends at school. Mom had said not to worry about it, that it wasn't my fault. Apparently, my biological father had been a criminal, and other parents were afraid to let their children play with me. The prospect of having a friend peaked my interest.

"Because you're my brother." Funny how he decided that, and I had no say in it. Not step-brother. Just brother. I sighed but cracked a smile. Maybe, just maybe, I could do something to chase the loneliness away for both of us, at least for a little while.

"Then how about we go get some ice cream?" Luffy looked up at me with those big, brown eyes of his, full of surprise and disbelief.

"R-really?" I nodded. I almost jumped in surprise when I felt his arms wrap around me in a hug. I had no idea whether or not I should hug him back, so I just sat there awkwardly.

"You're the best, Ace!" Luffy's grin was contagious, and I couldn't help but return it.

I had no idea just what I was signing myself up for with that simple offer. Having a little brother like Luffy isn't ever easy. But I don't regret that day for anything.


	2. Ghosts in Love

**_Beta'ed by lunarshores._**

**_AceLu_**

* * *

He woke up to the all-consuming darkness. It was weird at first- he couldn't see _anything_. After a few seconds of doing nothing but panicking, Ace tried to thrust his hands forward. They met resistance, so Ace tried hitting whatever was in front of him.

And it was the weirdest thing- one of his hands went through, but the second one didn't. Confused, but also slightly encouraged by this, he tried to stand up, only to bang his forehead against the thing before him.

He could have sworn that he heard someone laughing. But that was impossible...right?

His heart stopped beating when a head suddenly appeared above him. His mind caught on the question of how he could see when there was no light despite the fact that he should be freaking out since he was trapped in a box with no light with a disembodied glowing head.

"That's not how you do it, silly!" The boy's- because he was pretty sure it was a boy- pale and slightly translucent skin seemed to glow in the darkness, the small amount of light allowing Ace to see where he was.

And he was not happy with what he saw. He was stuck in something that had the shape of a box. Something made out of wood. He sucked in a sharp breath as he realized he was stuck in a coffin, probably underground. That, and the fact that the boy's head was coming out of the wood.

"What. The. _FUCK_?!" Ace would have scrambled away, but seeing as he was had almost no room to maneuver as he was trapped in what was basically a box, he chose to stay in place.

"Shishishi! If you want to get out, concentrate on not being there, and float up. Just imagine it happening!" Ace looked at the boy as if he'd grown a second head. "Come on, it's not that hard!" Although he was more than slightly dubious, Ace closed his eyes and did what he was told. When he opened them again, he was above ground, standing on soft grass. He took a step forward and turned around. He eyes widened as they took in the sight of the tombstone in front of him.

_**Portgas D Ace**_

_**Absent from the body, Present with the Lord.**_

Well, if what he was beginning to suspect thought was true, and he _had _become a ghost (the rational part of his mind still firmly refused to believe it), then the first part of that inscription was _very_ correct.

He turned his eyes to look at the boy standing next to him.

"I'm a ghost?" he blurted out. The boy turned his eyes away from the tombstone and toward him. It was only now that Ace took notice of his appearance. He had black hair that was slightly disheveled, and big brown eyes filled to the brim with innocence and joy. There was a scar on his left cheekbone.

"Yep. Cool, right?" Ace just kept staring at him, eyes incredibly wide and mouth open.

The rational part of his mind was telling him that this was a dream.

"Close your mouth or you'll catch flies." Ace quickly did as he was told, before sitting down and going back to staring at his grave. The stranger sat down beside him.

"I'm Luffy. Nice to meet you, Ace!"

Ace ignored the rational part of his mind.

* * *

Days passed while Luffy tried to get him to leave the cemetery. He kept refusing, opting instead to just sit there and observe his family as they came to visit his grave. _Eventually_, he got up to go wander around with Luffy. They had some fun scaring kids who broke into abandoned houses.

Then, Luffy confessing and they shared their first kiss.

Who knew you could find love as a _ghost_?

* * *

A while ago, Luffy told him that once whatever was holding a ghost back from passing on was gone, they would have to leave.

In Luffy's case, it came too soon.

Luffy came to him in the middle of the night, tears slipping from his eyes and over his cheeks, and telling him that he had to move on. They shared their last kiss, before Luffy faded away into nothingness. He had felt an immense amount of pain when he lost Luffy. Hell, he still felt it to this day. It never went away, not really.

As he sat there, watching the last member of his family die in the hospital and feeling himself fading away, all he could feel was relief. Relief, because maybe, just maybe he would be able to see all of his loved ones again when he passed on. And they would be able to see him.

And hopefully, he would see Luffy again.

Marco closed his eyes and took his last breath.

Watching himself fade bit by bit, Ace couldn't help but remember the horror he felt when he saw Luffy disappear in front of him. At the same time, Ace felt a rush of relief that the pain of his lonely existence would finally be over one way or the other and smiled wistfully as he vanished completely.

He could have sworn that he heard Luffy's familiar laugh ghosting through the hospital halls, so quietly he was sure it must be his imagination, as he closed his eyes for what might possibly be the last time.


End file.
